Lost in the Woods
by Rubine Goslay
Summary: Scully gets lost in the woods.  Set somewhere in season nine, spoilers.  Slightly AU.  Hurt/Comfort, PWP, DSR.  If you don't like DSR, than don't read.
1. Chapter 1

AN- This story is a little bit of a mystery and requires careful reading. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

As she shifted her tired feet through many layers of fallen leaves, Dana Scully could not resist the evocative call of the deep woods. Looking far up she could see traces of an azure sky through a veil of a million naked branches. Enormous oaks and maples surrounded her like organic tombstones. The only sounds were of her steady breathing and the crunch of nature as she walked; the soles of her boots found rotting leaves while the fresh, bright orange ones skimmed lifelessly across her ankles, and she recalled the days of her youth spent in the woods with her brothers, claiming the lives of innocent snakes that she would mourn forever. It is late September in Maine, and she was out in the woods all alone. She was working on a case; locals had reported noises and other strange going ons; they believed the woods to be haunted. She could have asked for help; she could have asked Mulder or Doggett to accompany her, but the case didn't seem to merit two agents, and frankly she felt she could use some time alone. To think.

While she was, as always, on the look out for paranormal activity, she found none and continued to lose herself in thought. Night fell faster than she had ever known it to. One minute the sky seemed shadowed, or was it just by tall branches or a wayward cloud, and then the shadows seemed to yawn and creep, smothering sporadic patches of daylight on the ground. For a time Dana thought absently that it must just be clouds shading the forest that did not relent. Perhaps there was a storm coming. Perhaps she had wandered into a patch of woods that was denser and allowed less light to filter through its rugged canopy. She sniffed around, hoping to catch a waft of burning leaves that she had smelled earlier that day when she was closer to homesteads. She smelled nothing but the dirt floor of the woods and the cool autumn air. How far had she traveled? How far had she wandered into the wilderness, lured out by her minds need to untangle? She pulled her lined camel trench around her; at least she had dressed warmly.

The gloom continued to unfold as she circled and tried to find her way back; a lone owl hooted in the distance, and when she looked up she saw a star. Muttering under her breath in consternation, she pulled out her phone while reprimanding herself for having gotten lost like an errant child. She called the local Sherriff she spoke with earlier, and he too reproved her but reassured her that the woods were not that deep, and he would send someone out to look for her. Scully was just feeling thankful that she had a signal this far out when she noticed that her battery, which she had charged that morning and barely used, was suddenly in the red. She checked the time and knew it was too late at night to expect anyone to be in the X-Files office, but she called anyway. The man who answered the phone had a low, gravely voice that always made her fingers and toes tingle inexplicably.

"Agent Doggett?"

"Agent Scully? Where are you?"

"I'm still in Maine, and I think I might have been wrong. I think there might be more to this case than meets the eye." She mused, wondering if the suspicions the locals harbored about the woods had anything to do with the ease of her misplacement.

"You want me to come up and help you?"

"Yes…" She looked down in the darkness and her eyes focused on where she thought her boots ought to be.

"Ok, no problem, Agent Scully, I'll be on the next flight out. Where do you want me to meet you? Agent Scully? Dana?"

The use of her first name pulled her back. She had paused, not wanting to admit to him the blunder she had made but she could see no way around it. Although she felt foolish, she was glad that she had reached him before the Sherriff surely would have; he would worry less this way, having heard from her first.

"I'm here," she emitted an octave higher than normal, but before she could speak another word her phone went dead. The glow from the screen, the only illumination now except for the faint stars above extinguished as quickly and as completely as someone blowing out a match. A bird cried out again, softly in the distance, a low and doleful sound. No longer sure of the direction she came from, she wondered if it would be best to keep moving or to stay put. The most logical action would seem to be to stay put so someone could find her, but her instincts told her to keep moving.

If she was an average woman, perhaps this situation would startle her, and although she was less than relaxed, she was experienced, intelligent, held a strong constitution, and was far from being unnerved. Predominantly she felt embarrassed as she continued her trek though the blackened woods, occasionally scraping her face on a low slung branch or tripping over a knotted root. About a quarter of an hour had passed before she thought she saw a light up ahead. Logic told her it ought to be flashlights, and that she should hear in accompaniment to this sight the far off sound of men calling back and forth, but she stood still and the woods were silent. She followed the lights with her eyes, ears pricked for human voices but she heard none. "Hello? Is someone there?" She called out; hoping to be answered by the Sherriff's men, as she knew it was far too soon for Doggett to even be in the state. She calculated that if he managed to board the soonest flight, it would still take at least two hours for him to reach town. Her words hung in the air, unanswered and then were swallowed by silence. The lights she saw flicked and faded. "Swamp gas…" she muttered to herself, fully knowing she was far from any swamp.

Then the air seemed to rush at her, not like a wind but like a force outside of nature, and a ringing boom obliterated the silence of the woods. The blast and the sudden sourceless noise knocked her backward. Her heart banged loudly in her chest and she groped in the darkness and found a thick tree to lean on for support. Shock stilled her, and then the woods were quiet again. Her racing pulse slowly returned to normal and she regained mastery over her cognitive functions. She thought about every single X-File that had anything to do with reports of ghosts or hauntings, but none of them were quite like this. The townspeople she spoke to had been so vague that she had considered skipping her perusal of the forest altogether. All they could really say was that something strange was going on. No levitating objects, no possessions, no areas that were perpetually cold for no apparent reason, not even ghostly figures strolling across the backyard at midnight. All anyone said was that there was just something strange.

Scully collected herself. She drew in the stillness of the woods and relaxed herself by tracing her fingertips over the scarred bark of her supporting tree. She wished she could check the time, but with her phone dead and not enough light to check her watch, it was impossible. She tried looking up to see the moon, but it was not visible. She sighed.

Just when she was relaxed enough to try and choose a direction to walk in, she heard a howl off in the distance, a sharp and terrible cry. Abruptly she smelled the pungent odor of fresh blood so strongly she could taste it. For the first time her hand darted down to her gun. She listened closely for another sound, but none came. The smell of blood lingered with such potency that it made her dizzy. Then again she heard the bay of the wolf. Without knowing why she began to run. Whether she was running towards or away from the noise, she didn't know. Where she was running, she couldn't tell. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark long ago, but there was so little light coming from above that all she could see was blackness punctuated by formless outlines. She ran for what felt like miles through the layers of leaves that coated the forest floor; she ran at top speed leaving a confused debris of nature in her unknowing wake. She ran until her legs screamed for her to stop and her lungs burned for oxygen, and she slowed, but her foot slipped over an unseen slope and she slid at least six feet down, landing on her left leg. If she cried out in pain or fear, she didn't know, she only knew the constant blackness and the new frenetic pain in her ankle that meant she could run no more. This pain she somehow likened to a recent argument she had had with Mulder.

"He's a good agent. He's not what you think he is. He is not a spy, he's not here to watch us, or follow us, or to report back to anyone. Trust me, Mulder. If you trust me, you can trust him."

"Well see now Scully, that just doesn't work for me, because I do trust you, but I don't trust him."

"Why not, Mulder? You know him now, you've worked on cases together. What possible reason could you have for doubting his motivation?"

"Because he doesn't belong here, Scully. Nothing about him or his background qualifies him in anyway to be on the X-Files. He's an ex-marine and an ex-cop with no interest in anything more paranormal than gym socks disappearing from the washing machine."

"We both know why Kersh put him here, but that's irrelevant, you can't tell me Agent Doggett had not shown dedication to his work."

"It's his dedication that I question."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We both know that Agent Doggett was up for a promotion recently that would take him out of the X-Files, and he didn't take it. Why?"

"Because we were both gone and it would have left the X-Files in serious danger of being closed down, you know that."

"Why does he care?"

She stared at him blankly. She knew that caring was as second nature as breathing for Doggett but she didn't know how to convey this to Mulder.

"It's because of you, Scully, and I don't mean this as a slight on you, I really don't, but I think that he became your partner at a time when you were very vulnerable, at a time when you had lost someone close to you, and you were pregnant and alone, at a time when you would have given anything to be able to trust someone."

"So you think I trusted him because I was desperate? That's not what happened, Mulder! I distrusted him. I avoided him. I mislead him, for Gods sake, I threw water in the man's face and he still did everything he could to help me!"

"That's exactly my point."

She shook her head. "You don't get it. You don't know him. You haven't worked with him as long as I have. He is a good agent, Mulder, and he is a friend to the X-Files."

He contemplated her for a long time.

"You know, if I didn't know you better, I'd say you'd fallen in love." he said sardonically.

"Mulder, be serious. Think about Skinner. Didn't it take a long time for him to earn your trust? And hasn't he proven himself time and again?"

"That he has. Look, we know we can trust Skinner, but that took years..."

"It doesn't have to take years. Do I have to tell you again, how many times Agent Doggett has saved my life?

"No, you don't have to tell me. And I am grateful that he has but I still question his motivation in wanting you alive."

"So I could bring William to term? So that when I did, he could help deliver our child to the government for further alien research, well you're wrong. He helped me with that too, Mulder."

"Tell me again," he asked quietly.

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me how he saved your life."

"Which time, Mulder? The time you weren't there for me, or the other time you weren't there for me?"

He rolled his eyes and she turned on her heel and exited the X-Files office in such a huff it barely came to her as a surprise, at first, to find Doggett standing just outside the door.

"John? How much did you hear?"

"Enough."

"Enough? Well I've had enough for one night too. Goodnight, Agent Doggett."

"Goodnight, Agent, Scully." He watched her leave as her heels clicked down the hall.

Her thoughts returned to her body, which lay on the forest floor in agony. A sprain, she thought. I've sprained my ankle running away from ghosts. Now all I have to do is lie here until someone finds me. A bird cooed in the distance while she rubbed her injured part. Someone will find me soon, she thought. Someone will find me soon.

She had seen and experienced things that evening she could not being to rationalize. She had, by her own fault, allowed herself to become lost in the woods and subject to bizarre events; the unexplainable lights and noises, the inexplicable desire to run when she knew, logically, that she should have stayed where she was. But what annoyed her the most was the inability to track time. It felt like hours had past but she had no means of confirmation. She pounded buttons on her phone to no avail; it was as dead as an animal on the road. She tried in vain, straining her eyes to track the elusive moon, but all she saw when she looked up was a canopy of blackness punctuated by stars. Two thoughts elated her and distracted her from the pain in her ankle, from the grumbling in her belly and the growing coldness of her skin. One, that dawn will come again no matter what, and two, at this moment John Doggett is out there looking for me. She closed her eyes and thought only of slightly bent ears.

AN- Long chapters on this one, I know. At least two more to come, not entirely sure yet. If reviews are gold, than constructive criticism is diamonds! Hello to Jude, if you're still around!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Dana Scully lay on the forest floor in darkness and in pain. Fatigue crept up on her and she permitted her thoughts to fuzz in and out. Concerned for her injured ankle, she reached down and carefully unzipped her boot to help alleviate pressure, and she tucked her knees up inside her lined trench coat, which seemed to be doing a poorer and poorer job of helping her retain heat as time drained by. She thought she might have heard a noise from somewhere else in the woods, but she reasoned it must be a small animal, although it somehow sounded human. She laid her head on her elbow and allowed loose strands of her hair to comingle with leaves on the ground. The fight she had with Mulder took place just a few days ago, and was the largest contributing factor in her decision to work this case alone. So Mulder didn't trust Doggett. That wasn't new, but what she couldn't figure out was why it bothered her so much.

'It's because you know John is a good man and a good agent, and it bothers you that someone close to you harbors such a profound misconception of him,' she thought to herself.

'Yes, but that's not all there is to it,' nagged another little voice as the wind started to pick up suddenly around her. Fear flickered and her eyes sprang open, weary of more sourceless lights, sounds, and olfactory hallucinations. A feeling of dread pricked at her and although she was armed, she felt utterly defenseless. Bullets only worked on the corporal. She knew before she found it that there would be a light again; it appeared as a speck in the distance. She watched it. And she heard a noise again. A voice. A human voice. A raised, raspy voice.

"Agent Scully!" she heard him cry from far away and a warmth spread over her as if she had just stepped into a hot shower.

"I'm here!" She called as loudly as her recently unused voice would allow. Forgetting her ankle, she tried to stand but collapsed and yelped in pain.

"Dana! Where are you? Talk to me!" She heard him shout over the distance and she answered him back until he found her and he dropped to a knee beside her, using his flashlight to examine her. His voice was edged with a velvet whine and he placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Are you ok? Where are you hurt? What happened?"

"I fell. There was a ledge, I didn't see it."

"How many times do I have to tell you to get one'a these," he muttered, indicating his flashlight which her held on her lower leg while Scully pulled her pant cuff up so she could examine it properly. It was swollen.

"Is it ok?" He asked while he reached out and ran his fingers over the injury with the lightest of touches. "Is it broken?"

"I don't think so, just sprained. And it's pink which is a good sign. How did you find me?"

"Luck's been with me. I got a fast flight out, met with the Sherriff. I called him right after we spoke and your call dropped, what happened? " he asked, and even in the dim glow of the flashlight she could see the concern in his eyes. "You said there was somethin' to this case?"

"My phone went dead, and yes, there is something strange about these woods. I saw lights and I smelled blood, I heard noises…"

The bizarre events of hours past seemed like a lifetime ago, and she had difficulty explaining them to Doggett with any real conviction. Under the best circumstances, it was hard to convince him to be open to extreme possibilities, but she had no evidence and no explanations ready.

"You sure it wasn't flashlights? It is hunting season, maybe you smelled the residual odor from somebody's new ten point buck."

"I don't know, I can't explain it, not yet."

"Alright. I'm gonna call the Sherriff, let know I found you." He stood, pulled out his cell and slowed. "It's dead. Now that's the damnedest thing, I just charged it this morning."

She hoped that in the low light he missed the subtle roll of her eyes. What would it take to make him believe?

"Okay," he said, collecting himself. He conspiratorially dropped again to his knees beside her. "The Sherriff and his men were looking in a completely different direction; it's unlikely that they'll find us anytime soon. We're a couple of miles out, and with your ankle in the state it's in I don't think we'd get that far. Looks like we're here for tonight. You don't camp much, do you Dana?"

She grinned wryly as a response. They had agreed a few months ago to call each other by their first names when they were outside of the FBI.

"You look cold" he said with the austere kindness that she was accustomed to from him. "Let me see if I can get a fire going." He took off his long coat and draped it over her petite frame, rolled up his sleeves and set to work gathering twigs and branches. In his search he found a small stump.

"Hey doc, aren't you supposed to elevate a sprain?"

"You are, but I didn't have anything to use."

"There's a stump over here, 'bout seven inches tall, you think that could work?"

"Yeah, actually, that sounds perfect," she said, surprised but pleased. She tried to get on her knees but Doggett appeared next to her protesting.

"No, no no, don't. Let me help." He uttered gingerly and scooped her up with ease and carefully deposited her so she could rest her ankle on the stump.

"Thank you," she muttered, slightly abashed. She mused that if it had been Mulder, the most he would have done was help her crawl.

"Anytime." As he worked, the stark silence of the woods she had known vanished and was replaced with the gentle hum of his labor. Within minutes, he was successful in building a small campfire. Scully warmed her hands and took in the cheery light it afforded. The blackness of the woods ebbed away as Doggett patiently stoked the flames, gradually adding kindling. Pine needles in varying degrees of dryness popped and sparked, emitting an almost homey aroma. He carved out a trench around the fire so it wouldn't spread. When he was satisfied with his work he sat down beside her.

"Here, John, take your coat back, you must be cold." She tried to pull it off her but he wouldn't hear of it.

"It's not that cold, I actually feel pretty warm. What about you, when was the last time you ate? Here, I gotta bag in here somewhere…" He reached under the displaced jacket and produced a bag from which he withdrew several granola bars and a large bottle of water. He handed them to her and rearranged the coat smoothly over her body.

The appearance of Doggett had driven hunger out of her mind, and at the sight of food it returned full force. She tried to eat slowly and she thanked him in between bites. She was so consumed with the honeyed oats that it took a while for her to notice John's silence. She chewed carefully and considered what was on his mind, somewhat distracted still by the deliciousness of her makeshift meal and the warmth coming off his bare forearms; he was sitting just close enough for it to register. When he spoke his voice was so quiet that at first she wasn't sure if he was speaking at all, but his words were clear and she caught every one.

"I thought you learned your lesson back in Utah. I was really worried about you, you know."

"I know. I'm sorry." She felt again like an errant child.

He shrugged. "It's at least partly my fault. I should know by now not to let you outta my sight. You get in way too much trouble. How'd you manage to get lost out here, anyway?"

"I'm not sure how it happened. I was out here working on the case, and I lost track of time. I was looking for anything out of the ordinary, and I guess I didn't notice that the sun was going down."

"Yeah? Sounds to me like you came out here alone to think and got a little lost in your thoughts."

She was silent. Doggett had the annoying habit of being keenly perceptive and abundantly honest.

"Okay. If you know me so well, what was I out here thinking about?"

"Well the X-Files office has seemed a little crowded lately, don't you think?"

"If it has, what is your solution to that problem?"

"I'm not sayin' I have one. I'm not even saying it's a problem."

"If you're referring to Mulder's lack of trust in you, I hardly feel I even have to say it, but you know I don't share his feelings or his doubts," she said seriously.

"I know that Dana, and I appreciate it. But I've been doing some thinkin' too, about the future of the X-Files. You know that promotion that Kersh offered me? Well, it's still on the table."

The recently consumed granola bars swam unpleasantly in her stomach, and her ankle gave a sudden throb. She didn't make a sound, but pain flitted briefly across her face. He noticed.

"There's some acetaminophen in my bag, here. Sorry, I shoulda thought about it earlier." He looked furious with himself.

"You're thinking about leaving the X-Files?" She managed to articulate after choking down some pain pills.

AN- Sorry about the wait for this chapter, not sorry about minor cliffhanger because I don't have a problem being evil for literary effect. Review, if you please, it would make my day. One more chapter coming.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three-

AN- Very sorry about the wait. This is the last chapter of this story, please enjoy.

"You're thinking about leaving the X-Files?" She managed to articulate after choking down some pain pills.

"Yeah, I'm thinkin' about it. I did what I came to do, we found Mulder. Now you two can have the X-Files back, and I can get out of your hair." His tone hung in the air.

She gathered her thoughts, leaned back, and tried to assume as much authority as she could for one lying wounded on the forest floor. "If it's because you don't feel like you bring enough to the X-Files you're wrong. You're a good Agent and you've proven yourself to be invaluable and irreplaceable as a partner. You balance us out. We need you, John." She tried to keep the tone of her voice steady and free of desperation.

"It's good to hear you say that Dana, but I don't know who this 'we' is. I think we both know Mulder wouldn't mind seein' the last of me, but I'll stay if it means something to you."

She said the words that had been humming inside her for months, concepts so illicit she had rarely dared to think them, let alone verbalize them.

"Actually John, I was thinking of leaving too." She sighed and took a fortifying sip of spring water.

"Yeah, I figured you were thinkin' something like that." He said simply.

"What makes you say that?" Surprise awed her and she didn't bother straining the emotion from her voice.

"I don't know. Just somethin' about you lately. Like your heart's not in it anymore. To tell the truth, Dana that's why I'm thinking of leaving too. But what I would like to know is just what exactly has been on your mind lately?" He prodded, but his tenor was gentle and understanding.

She watched the campfire as flames danced and curled in the night. She turned her head to face him and met his gaze. His steady, vivid blue eyes contrasted the orange glow of the fire but matched its blaze. When Mulder looked at her, she always received the unsettling impression that he was looking through her, like he could never see her. As if every moment that they had spent in eye contact, he could never see her for what she really was. And the more she tried to strip herself down, the more opaque she became in his view. When Doggett looked at her, she felt like he could see through to her very soul. In the beginning, the more she tried to hide the more transparent she became. She learned.

"It's complicated." She said

"We got all night."

"Well, I suppose, seeing as how we don't have any marshmallows to roast."

He chuckled softly.

"It's just, umm, after everything I went through with William, life seems to have taken on a different meaning. Things that seemed important before suddenly don't. And things I ignored before suddenly seem to have value."

"You're doin' a good job of sayin' something with out sayin' anything at all." His gravely voice came. "Never the less, I know what you mean." He paused for a moment. It's hard losing a son. An' it's even harder when the other person doesn't seem to care about it as much as you do."

She wanted to say that Mulder had cared, but the memory of his detached reaction to her pregnancy and his disappearance after William's birth was too fresh.

"Mulder cares," she lied to herself while she felt a wetness burn in her eye. "He just has more important things…more global concerns." She couldn't quite finish her thought.

"The way I see it, Dana, there's nothing more important than family. Nothing." He noticed her attempt to hide a tear from him and he brought his arm up protectively over her shoulder and she leaned on him like she had done so often over the past two years.

When he had supported her through Mulder's abduction, she was reluctant to accept his consistently proffered help. When she was lying on the hospital floor in pain, he scooped her up and held her, but she hid her face. She never hid anymore, aside from its futility; she had grown used to his companionship and care. She depended upon it.

"I think I might go back to teaching at Quantico." She said quietly. He unconsciously rubbed her shoulder.

"You sure that's what you want?"

"Yes. I think I'm feeling what you are. Like my work at the X-Files is finished."

"Yeah? What do you think Mulder would do with out us, all alone with his penciled ceiling?"

"I think he'd be fine. Sometimes I think Mulder works best alone. And we could still help him when he gets in over his head." She paused for a long moment. "We are pretty different, you know."

"I know. You definitely don't work best alone. But all kidding aside, I know." He gave her a significant look.

"I think it affected me a lot more. You know. Having William. Giving up William. I always wanted to be a Mom, and then to have it and lose it…"

"Hey," he emitted, voiced deep and low. "You are still a Mom." He pulled her in closer. "I know you miss him. I miss him too."

It started to rise in her again, but before a tear could drop from her eye she heard for the second time the bay of the wolf. She would have jumped, but in Doggett's arms fear failed to fully encompass her. She shook slightly.

"It's ok." He gave her a reassuring squeeze. "Wolves generally aren't dangerous to humans. He's probably just looking for his mate."

"I hope he finds her."

Their prolonged contact was unprecedented, but pleasant. So pleasant that she felt her body relax, and leaning against his body she felt parts of her relax that hadn't in many years. She closed her eyes.

"You feelin' sleepy?"

"A little." She yawned.

"Why don't you lie down. Don't worry, I'll stay awake."

"You don't have to do that John, there's nothing out there." She said without knowing why she said it, but she knew she was right. She lay down in front of the warm fire.

"I know. But just in case."

He sat behind her and ran his hand up and down her arm. It was unusual for him to express this level of affection for her outright, but something about the circumstances seemed to allow for it, to encourage it. She made a small noise of contentment as his hand traveled faithfully over her arm.

The hours past and true to his word he stayed awake, although he did lie down beside her. He did so with caution, leaving space between them until he heard her dreaming noise of want and felt her scoot backwards to find his body. He wrapped his arms around her, tucked his head over hers and her hands found his and in her sleep she laced their fingers.

Seconds became days of triumph as he felt the heat of the woman he silently loved exchange and mingle with his own. He felt her spine lay flush against his chest and with the exception that they were lying on the forest floor and not in his bed, he held her like he had dreamed of doing.

It seemed to him it would be a fine thing if dawn never came. But it did would, along with the footfalls of a half a dozen men.

The birth of dawn gently prevailed over the peacefully dying fire. Shades of black turned to blue, than to soft yellow and glowing orange. Long spears of light gradually overcame the canopy overhead, its coverage becoming less and less prevalent.

The holy silence of nature in transition was broken by the shuffling feet of men.

He had heard them coming. Already awake and sitting up, Doggett quietly spoke her name and lightly shook her elbow. She stirred but he did not remove his arm around her as the crowd of men approached.

"Well isn't this a pretty goddamn picture." Mulder scoffed and unconsciously kicked a lump of leaves.

"Mulder?" Scully roused and woke more fully at the sound of his voice. "What are you doing here?" She asked, puzzled

"What am I doing here? What do you mean what I am doing here, I'm looking for you. What's he doing here?" He gestured towards Doggett. He stood up.

"I found her." He said darkly, his face set and his shoulders stiff.

"I did too." Mulder muttered under his breath.

"Not in time."

The Sheriff interjected before Scully could. "I sure am glad to see that you Agents are all right." He said more loudly than necessary. "You see we got a report last night," he spoke in a more normal tone, "that there was some unlawful hunting going on. You see, normally hunting is allowed this time of year. During the day. It seems some yahoo thought it would be a good idea to go hunting at night."

"Is that so, Sheriff?" Doggett directed meaningfully at Scully without taking his eyes off Mulder.

"Are you alright Scully?" Mulder asked, finally tearing his eyes off Doggett once he noticed that she could not stand.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She grimaced as she rolled to her knees and tried to stand on her good ankle. Both men extended arms in offer. She took Doggett's.

Mulder retracted. "What happened, Scully?" He asked after a moment.

"I lost track of time, I got lost." She said to Mulder. "I'm sorry for the confusion," she said to the group at large, "I'm sorry that I worried you." she said to Doggett.

"But I'm fine." She continued. "I just fell down a ledge I couldn't see."

"Did you see anything unusual out here, Agent Scully?"

She paused for a moment, thinking. She chanced a look at Doggett and focused on the unwaveringly clear blue of his eyes.

"Scully?" Mulder asked, attempting to interrupt and reframe the Sherriff's question

"There's nothing out there Mulder, but if you want to keep looking, be my guest."

John turned to Dana and anticipating his move, she put her arm around his shoulders and he lifted her with care and ease and he began to walk away.

AN- Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!


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